


french fries

by furuyawn



Series: junk food [2]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Age Difference, Aged-Up Character(s), Deaf Character, Gen, M/M, im embarassed!!! i hate myself for writing this!! but it had to be done, implied queerplatonic chadichi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 20:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6165028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/furuyawn/pseuds/furuyawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>chad tells ichigo about isshin</p>
            </blockquote>





	french fries

**Author's Note:**

> this will make more sense if you read pizza rolls first but you could read it alone too i guess!!! i barely even edited this please just let me die

It’s been exactly 19 minutes and Chad’s neck is starting to get stiff from the way he has to hunch over in order to see his phone’s screen on the table. Whoever designed the furniture at this McDonalds didn’t do so with tall people in mind and he’s changed positions at least six times. The table is too low to rest his elbows on without nearly folding himself in half, and the chair too short to keep his legs perpendicular to the floor, so he’s left with the edge of his seat digging painfully into the middle of his rear while his legs bend under his chair and at this point it would probably be more comfortable to just kneel on the floor. He taps the screen of his phone once when he notices it going dark and places his hand gingerly back in his lap, not even paying attention the article he was trying to read. He’s debating on starting a crowdfunding campaign to design chairs for giraffe people such as himself when he feels a familiar pat on his shoulder.

“Sorry I’m late,” Ichigo signs after stripping off his gloves. His cheeks are red from the October chill and he’s trying to fight his way out of the scarf around his neck. By the time he finally sits down he’s sweating from the exertion. “There was this dog,” he continues.

Chad nods and gives him a moment to collect himself, assuming there’s more to the story. But when Ichigo settles and begins eating the now room-temperature fries on the table he realizes that _was_ the story and the corners of his mouth quirk up. “I see,” he signs.

“Yeah. So anyways, what’s up? What did you need to talk to me about?”

Thinking carefully about how he wants to approach this, Chad takes a sip of his lemonade. The ice is mostly melted and it’s diluted so he makes a face and sets it back down. He glances around the dining room; it’s essentially empty aside from a small group of high schoolers and a couple with their toddler. He had purposefully picked the booth furthest from the entrance and kitchen, which unfortunately (or possibly very fortunately, depending on how the situation that was about to unfold went down) meant they were about 10 feet from the restrooms and he occasionally thought he could smell the hand soap from where they were sitting.

Ichigo taps on the table impatiently and anxiously. Right. This was not the time to be thinking about soap. Or maybe it was, he’s not sure yet. Regardless, he was the one that called Ichigo out here on a Thursday night with only the reasoning that he ‘needed to tell him something important’ and if Chad were in his shoes he would probably be a nervous wreck. So he decides it’s best to just tell him like it is.

“Ichigo,” he finally signs.

“Chad,” Ichigo signs back.

Chad takes a deep breath and begins to move his hands rather quickly. “Ichigo… you know how I texted you last week about that guy I’ve been hooking up with since July? And how I really like him and want to start dating him for real?”

Ichigo nods and takes a bite from what seems to be a particularly crunchy fry.

Staring at the table, Chad continues. “Ichigo… it’s your dad. I’m fucking your dad.”

After what seems like an eternity the pieces finally come together. The table shifts and Chad is thankful he’s not wearing his external device because judging by the looks they’re receiving from the rest of the patrons and even the cashiers, Ichigo just yelled something very colorful. When he chances a look forward Ichigo is standing and gripping the edge of the table, and Chad is unsure whether he’s holding on for stability or preparing to throw it across the room. The fries have shifted to the side and the lemonade is on the floor but Chad’s phone remains in the spot that it was and somewhere far away in his mind he thinks it’s probably stuck to some dried soda or something. Gross.

Ichigo is red in the face. He lets go of the table and signs frantically, “That’s not funny” but when Chad doesn’t react he grows even redder. His chest is heaving and he’s probably hyperventilating. “Seriously, tell me that’s a joke!”

Chad says nothing and Ichigo sinks back down into his chair, slack-jawed and staring out the window. “I think I’m gonna be sick,” Chad reads on his lips. So he did pick a good table.

An excruciating five minutes of silence passes. One of the staff members comes by with a mop and helps Chad clean up the spilled lemonade, and Chad can tell that Ichigo really wants to do something about it too but he’s too stupefied to even remember his own name so he does nothing, just sits there looking off into the distance. Possibly contemplating what he did to deserve this, Chad thinks. Finally Ichigo gets up and walks into the bathroom.

Chad wonders if maybe he should just leave, if maybe he shouldn’t have said anything at all and just kept this a shameful, dirty little secret. If maybe honesty was actually not the best policy and he just ruined the most important relationship in his life because of the possibility of romance. He hadn’t thought about where Ichigo stood in all of this nearly as hard as he should have, and he’s kicking himself. He’s especially regretting pulling the “public confession” trick because now Ichigo was probably crying alone in a McDonald’s bathroom and, man, did Chad feel like utter garbage. _Well, fuck._

Ten more minutes pass before Ichigo emerges. Chad watches as he grabs his things wordlessly and begins bundling up. He doesn’t know whether he should go with so he remains seated but then Ichigo motions for him to follow and he feels like maybe he can breathe a little bit. On the way to the door he places some change in the donation jar as a silent apology for the scene and then they’re outside.

Neither of them say a thing, Chad trailing behind Ichigo by five or six steps and Ichigo staring straight ahead. His breath comes out in little puffs; his gloved hands are stuffed in his coat pockets and his head buried in his scarf, and Chad thinks he looks sort of like a little red bird whose feathers have been ruffled but then he remembers that he was the one that ruffled said feathers and he decides to drop that train of thought.

—

At 8:24 exactly they reach the park. It’s empty aside from an elderly woman walking her dog (Chad notes that Ichigo looked at said dog no less than three times in the first minute they sat down on the swings). When the woman is gone and they are finally alone Ichigo remains silent for another two minutes before looking Chad in the eyes and punching him square in the jaw.

Chad doesn’t bat an eyelash; he knew it was coming and it hurts but it’s nothing compared to what Ichigo must be feeling. He’s enraged.

“You are the absolute worst and I would kill you if I didn’t fucking love you, you goddamn asshole,” Chad reads him say. Then he signs, “What is wrong with you? Why him? Out of everyone you could have picked, why did it have to be my old man?”

 _If I knew, I wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place_ , Chad wants to say but he does know. He can’t lie to Ichigo after he’s come this far. “Because I’ve had a crush on him forever,” Chad finally signs back. “The first time I slept over at your house, I was teaching you more difficult signs and we made pizza rolls at one in the morning and he walked in. And ever since then…” he feels his face heating up despite the cold because holy shit he finally told somebody.

Ichigo appears absolutely dumbfounded. “That long?”

“That long.”

It looks like Ichigo has been hit by an airbag, deflated and like he’s reassessing everything he’s ever known. “Dude, that’s like. More than a decade,” he mouths. Chad nods and Ichigo stares off into the distance for a bit, and then looks back at Chad. “Damn.”

“And so when Orihime took Tatsuki and me out for Tatsuki’s 25th and we met at that bar it was…” he stops because he’s not about to say it was fate that he hooked up with Ichigo’s father to his face so instead he shrugs. Ichigo cringes and Chad realizes it’s because he misinterpreted the meaning of the shrug but he opts not to clarify so as not to make matters worse (even though he wants to say that the experience was far from shrug-worthy).

“And you’re… serious about him?” Ichigo pauses, then rephrases, “and like. He’s. Serious about you?” his face is a cross between concern and disgust and Chad knows he’s trying his best to avoid imagining the situation fully so he nods.

“I’m pretty sure,” he signs.

Ichigo doesn’t say anything. Just stares at his feet and clenches his fists around the chains of the swing. He’s definitely thinking about something. It takes him a bit before he finally lets go, turning to Chad and hesitating before signing, “You’re not like. _Serious_ serious yet. Right?”

“I’m not going to be your step-dad if that’s what you mean,” Chad retaliates quickly and Ichigo punches him on the arm. Hard. He’s angry again. Chad tries and fails not to smile and Ichigo punches him again.

“Fuck off!” Ichigo laughs for a fraction of a second - Chad can feel it the same way he can feel Isshin’s laughs - but then stops as suddenly as he started. “I’m… not okay with this yet, Chad. I don’t know if I ever will be. Like. This is. Not something I even want to think about, and it’s not something I’m going to accept overnight. But,” he stands up, “I do. Appreciate you telling me. I uh. Wouldn’t have wanted to find out about it on my own. So thanks.”

A tidal wave of relief washes over Chad and the dam bursts and now he’s crying like an idiot. He’s not hated; Ichigo is still gonna be Ichigo, it’s not the end of the world. He can breathe. And breathe he does. Actually, he’s hyperventilating and he can’t stop so Ichigo hugs him and rubs little circles on his back to calm him down. “I love you,” Chad says aloud.

“I love you too,” Ichigo says back and Chad doesn’t need to see his face because he can feel it rumble in Ichigo’s chest and he hopes someday he’ll feel the same from Isshin.


End file.
